Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Cosmos 2499 is now a hamsat?



Well it started life as a probable anti-satellite killer sat. Now it appears that Cosmos 2499 has morphed into a hamsat? First, Paul Marsh over at UHF-Satcom has discovered the S-band downlink for this satellite. Here is what Paul posted to the UHF-Satcom newsgroup:

"Confirmed S-Band downlink from Cosmos 2499, cat #39765 on 2280.000MHz. Transmitter activated with the satellite is at 5 degrees at Moscow. Quite a good signal using 1M antenna."

http://pjm.uhf-satcom.com/twtr/cosmos2499_301114.jpg
http://pjm.uhf-satcom.com/twtr/cosmos2499_011214.jpg
http://pjm.uhf-satcom.com/twtr/cosmos2499_011214a.jpg

Eight minutes ago Paul tweeted:

"Cosmos 2499 S-Band TX commanded on from Moscow, sending 'idle' frames from the look of the BPSK; - strong signals!"
 
According to R4UAB Cosmos 2499 may have morphed into a Hamsat (see http://r4uab.ru/?p=8509 for his full story). Portion of his post at http://r4uab.ru/?p=8509 translated to English text:
 
"Amateur astronomers and observers satellites in Russia and in the West follow the unusual maneuver object 2014-28E. Now and amateurs joined observations:-)
He may have different functions, some of them civilians, some - the military. In confirmation to the first statement I was today adopted a scientific telemetry signal with COSMOS 2499 on frequencies 435.465 MHz and 435.565 MHz. TABLETSAT-AURORA. The first time a strange signal that I could not identify, I noticed in the summer during the reception of satellite TABLETSAT-AURORA. In the picture once again screenshot summer, found in the repository at: On it you can see 2 data link with COSMOS 2499 (as I now know) and the lighthouse TABLETSAT-AURORA.  A lot of time spent on the search for the source.  First time I have access to the signal height of the object identified approximately 1500 km, calculate the approximate TLE based on my observations and this led me to the COSMOS 2499."
 
 
 
Robert Christy at Zarya.info is reporting on his twitter feed the following:
 
"Cosmos 2499 - R4UAB reports: as of today it is identifying itself as radio amateur sat RS-47, maybe means the military mission is completed?"
 
Amsat UK has picked up the story on their blog at http://amsat-uk.org/2014/11/30/cosmos-2499-callsign-rs-47/
 
Track COSMOS-2499 / RS-47 at http://www.n2yo.com/?s=39765
 
Listen for RS-47 online with the SUWS WebSDR located near London
http://amsat-uk.org/2014/08/15/suws-websdr-moves-to-new-site/
 
RS-47 Telemetry data http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=52752
 
Dmitry Pashkov R4UAB describes receiving the 435.465 MHz and 435.565 MHz signals at http://tinyurl.com/R4UAB-COSMOS-2499
You can read the complete story on Cosmos 2499/RS-47 on the RussianSpaceWeb.com at http://www.russianspaceweb.com/Cosmos-2499.html#1125
 
So there we have it the hunter killer anti-satellite satellite is now RS-47 a hamsat. Only in Putin's Russia. ;-)